I wrote again to the same persons[1] another
treatise, which I entitled On Rebuke and Grace, because I had been told
that some one there had said that no man ought to be rebuked for not doing
God's commandments, but that prayer only should be made on his behalf,
that he may do them. This book begins on this wise, "I have read your letters,
dearly beloved brother Valentine."

TREATISE ON REBUKE AND GRACE.BY AURELIUS AUGUSTIN, BISHOP OF HIPPO;

In One BOOK,

ADDRESSED TO VALENTINE, AND WITH HIM TO THE
MONKS OF ADRUMETUM.

A.D. 426 OR 427.

IN THE BEGINNING THE WRITER SETS FORTH WHAT
IS THE CATHOLIC FAITH CONCERNING LAW, CONCERNING FREE WILL, AND CONCERNING
GRACE. HE TEACHES THAT THE GRACE OF GOD BY JESUS CHRIST IS THAT BY WHICH
ALONE MEN ARE DELIVERED FROM EVIL, AND WITHOUT WHICH THEY DO ABSOLUTELY
NO GOOD; AND THIS NOT ONLY BY THE FACT THAT IT POINTS OUT WHAT IS TO BE
DONE, BUT THAT IT ALSO SUPPLIES THE MEANS OF DOING IT WITH LOVED SINCE
GOD BESTOWS ON MEN THE INSPIRATION OF A GOOD WILL AND DEED. HE TEACHES
THAT THE REBUKE OF EVIL MEN WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED THIS GRACE IS NEITHER
UNJUST--SINCE THEY ARE EVIL BY THEIR OWN WILL--NOR USELESS, ALTHOUGH IT
MUST BE CONFESSED THAT IT IS ONLY BY GOD'S AGENCY THAT IT CAN AVAIL. THAT
PERSEVERANCE IN GOOD IS TRULY A GREAT GIFT OF GOD, BUT THAT STILL THE REBUKE
OF ONE WHO HAS NOT PERSEVERED MUST NOT ON THAT ACCOUNT BE NEGLECTED; AND
THAT IF A MAN WHO HAS NOT RECEIVED THIS GIFT SHOULD RELAPSE OF HIS OWN
WILL INTO SIN, HE IS NOT ONLY DESERVING OF REBUKE, BUT IF HE SHOULD CONTINUE
IN EVIL UNTIL HIS DEATH, HE IS MOREOVER WORTHY OF ETERNAL DAMNATION. THAT
IT IS INSCRUTABLE WHY ONE SHOULD RECEIVE THIS GIFT AND ANOTHER SHOULD NOT
RECEIVE IT. THAT OF THOSE WHO ARE PREDESTINATED NONE CAN PERISH. AND THAT
THE PERSEVERANCE, WHICH ALL DO NOT RECEIVE WHO ARE HERE CALLED CHILDREN
OF GOD, IS CONSTANTLY GIVEN TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE TRULY CHILDREN BY GOD'S
FOREKNOWLEDGE AND PREDESTINATION. HE ANSWERS THE QUESTION WHICH SUGGESTS
ITSELF CONCERNING ADAM--IN WHAT WAY HE SINNED BY NOT PERSEVERING, SINCE
HE DID NOT RECEIVE PERSEVERANCE. HE SHOWS THAT SUCH ASSISTANCE WAS AT THE
FIRST GIVEN TO HIM, AS THAT WITHOUT IT HE COULD NOT CONTINUE IF HE WOULD,
NOT AS THAT WITH IT MUST RESULT THAT HE WOULD. BUT THAT NOW THROUGH CHRIST
IS GIVEN US NOT ONLY SUCH HELP AS THAT WITHOUT IT WE CANNOT CONTINUE EVEN
IF WE WILL, BUT MOREOVER SUCH AND SO GREAT AS THAT BY IT WE WILL. HE PROVES
THAT THE NUMBER OF THE PREDESTINATED, TO WHOM A GIFT OF THIS KIND IS APPROPRIATED,
IS CERTAIN, AND CAN NEITHER BE INCREASED NOR DIMINISHED. AND SINCE IT IS
UNKNOWN WHO BELONGS TO THAT NUMBER, AND WHO DOES NOT, THAT MEDICINAL REBUKE
MUST BE APPLIED TO ALL WHO SIN, LEST THEY SHOULD EITHER THEMSELVES PERISH,
OR BE THE RUIN OF OTHERS. FINALLY, HE CONCLUDES THAT NEITHER IS REBUKE
PROHIBITED BY GRACE, NOR IS GRACE DENIED BY REBUKE.

CHAP. 1 [i.]--INTRODUCTORY.

I HAVE read your letter--Valentine, my dearly
beloved brother, and you who are associated with him in the service of
God--which your Love sent by brother Florus and those who came to us with
him; and I gave God thanks that I have known your peace in the Lord and
agreement in the truth and ardour in love, by your discourse delivered
to us. But that an enemy has striven among you to the subversion of some,
has, by the mercy of God and His marvellous goodness in turning his arts
to the advantage[1] of His servants, rather availed to this result, that
while none of you were cast down for the worse, some were built up for
the better. There is therefore no need to reconsider again and again all
that I have already transmitted to you, sufficiently argued out in a lengthy
treatise;[2] for your replies indicate how you have received this. Nevertheless,
do not in any wise suppose that, when once read, it can have become sufficiently
well known to you. Therefore if you desire to have it exceedingly productive,
do not count it a grievance by re-perusal to make it thoroughly familiar;
so that you may most accurately[3] know what and what kind of questions
they are, for the solution and satisfaction of which there arises an authority
not human but divine, from which we ought not to depart if we desire to
attain to the point whither we are tending.

CHAP. 2.--THE CATHOLIC FAITH CONCERNING LAW,
GRACE, AND FREE WILL.

Now the Lord Himself not only shows us what
evil we should shun, and what good we should do, which is all that the
letter of the law is able to effect; but He moreover helps us that we may
shun evil and do good,[4] which none can do without the Spirit of grace;
and if this be wanting, the law comes in merely to make us guilty and to
slay us. It is on this account that the apostle says, "The letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life."[5] He, then, who lawfully uses the law learns
therein evil and good, and, not trusting in his own strength, flees to
grace, by the help of which he may shun evil and do good. But who is there
who flees to grace except when "the steps of a man are ordered by the Lord,
and He shall determine his way"?[6] And thus also to desire the help of
grace is the beginning of grace; of which, says he, "And I said, Now I
have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High."[7]
It is to be confessed, therefore, that we have free choice to do both evil
and good; but in doing evil every one is free from righteousness and a
servant of sin, while in doing good no one can be free, unless he have
been made free by Him who said, "If the Son shall make you free, then you
shall be free indeed."[8] Neither is it thus, that when any one has been
made free from the dominion of sin, he no longer needs the help of his
Deliverer; but rather thus, that hearing from Him, "Without me ye can do
nothing,"[9] he himself also says to Him, "Be thou my helper! Forsake me
not."[10] I rejoice that I have found in our brother Florus also this faith,
which without doubt is the true and prophetical and apostolical and catholic
faith; whence those are the rather to be corrected--whom indeed I now think
to have been corrected by the favour of God--who did not understand him.

CHAP. 3 [II.]--WHAT THE GRACE OF GOD THROUGH
JESUS CHRIST IS.

For the grace of God through Jesus Christ
our Lord must be apprehended,--as that by which alone men are delivered
from evil, and without which they do absolutely no good thing, whether
in thought, or will and affection, or in action; not only in order that
they may know, by the manifestation of that grace, what should be done,
but moreover in order that, by its enabling, they may do with love what
they know. Certainly the apostle asked for this inspiration of good will
and work on behalf of those to whom he said, "Now we pray to God that ye
do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that
which is good."[11] Who can hear this and not awake and confess that we
have it from the Lord God that we turn aside from evil and do good?--since
the apostle indeed says not, We admonish, we teach, we exhort, we rebuke;
but he says, "We pray to God that ye do no evil, but that ye should do
that which is good."[11] And yet he was also in the habit of speaking to
them, and doing all those things which I have mentioned,--he admonished,
he taught, he exhorted, he rebuked. But he knew that all these things which
he Was doing in the way of planting and watering openly[1] were of no avail
unless He who giveth the increase in secret should give heed to his prayer
on their behalf. Because, as the same teacher of the Gentiles says, "Neither
is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth
the increase."[2]

CHAP. 4--THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE LED BY THE
SPIRIT OF GOD.

Let those, therefore, not deceive themselves
who ask, "Wherefore is it preached and prescribed to us that we should
turn away from evil and do good, if it is not we that do this, but 'God
who worketh in us to will and to do it'?"[3] But let them rather understand
that if they are the children of God, they are led by the Spirit of God[4]
to do that which should be done; and when they have done it, let them give
thanks to Him by whom they act. For they are acted upon that they may act,
not that they may themselves do nothing; and in addition to this, it is
shown them what they ought to do, so that when they have done it as it
ought to be done--that is, with the love and the delight of righteousness--they
may rejoice in having received "the sweetness which the Lord has given,
that their[5] land should yield her increase.''[6] But when they do not
act, whether by not doing at all or by not doing from love, let them pray
that what as yet they have not, they may receive. For what shall they have
which they shall not receive? or what have they which they have not received?[7]

CHAP. 5 [III.]--REBUKE MUST NOT BE NEGLECTED.

"Then," say they, "let those who are over
us only prescribe to us what we ought to do, and pray for us that we may
do it; but let them not rebuke and censure us if we should not do it."
Certainly let all be done, since the teachers of the churches, the apostles,
were in the habit of doing all,--as well prescribing what things should
be done, as rebuking if they were not done, and praying that they might
be done. The apostle prescribes, saying, "Let all your things be done with
love."[8] He rebukes, saying, "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among
you, because ye have judgments among yourselves. For why do ye not rather
suffer wrong? Why are ye not rather defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud;
and that, your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not possess
the kingdom of God?"[9] Let us hear him also praying: "And the Lord," says
he, "multiply you, and make you to abound in love one towards another and
towards all men."[10] He prescribes, that love should be maintained; he
rebukes, because love is not maintained; he prays, that love may abound.
O man! learn by his precept what you ought to have; learn by his rebuke
that it is by your own fault that you have it not; learn by his prayer
whence you may receive what you desire to have.

CHAP. 6 [IV.] --OBJECTIONS TO THE USE OF REBUKE.

"How," says he," "is it my fault that I have
not what I have not received from Him, when unless it is given by Him,
there is no other at all whence such and so great a gift can be had?" Suffer
me a little, my brethren, not as against you whose heart is right with
God, but as against those who mind earthly things, or as against those
human modes of thinking themselves, to contend for the truth, of the heavenly
and divine grace. For they who say this are such as in their wicked works
are unwilling to be rebuked by those who proclaim this grace. "Prescribe
to me what I shall do, and if I should do it, give thanks to God for me
who has given me to do it; but if I do it not, I must not be rebuked, but
He must be besought to give what He has not given; that is, that very believing
love of God and of my neighbour by which His precepts are[12] observed.
Pray, then, for me that I may receive this, and may by its means do freely
and with good will that which He commands. But I should be justly rebuked
if by my own fault I had it not; that is, if I myself could give it to
myself, or could receive it, and did not do so, or if He should give it
and I should be unwilling to receive it. But since even the will itself
is prepared[13] by the Lord, why dust thou rebuke me because thou seeest
me unwilling to do His precepts, and dust not rather ask Him Himself to
work in me the will also?"

CHAP. 7 [V.]--THE NECESSITY AND ADVANTAGE
OF REBUKE.

To this we answer: Whoever you are that do
not the commandments of God that are already known to you, and do not wish
to be rebuked, you must be rebuked even for that very reason that you do
not wish to be rebuked. For you do not wish that your faults should be
pointed out to you; you do not wish that they should be touched, and that
such a useful pain should be caused you that you may seek the Physician;
you do not desire to be shown to yourself, that, when you see yourself
to be deformed, you may wish for the Reformer, and may supplicate Him that
you may not continue in that repulsiveness. For it is your fault that you
are evil; and it is a greater fault to be unwilling to be rebuked because
you are evil, as if faults should either be praised, or regarded with indifference
so as neither to be praised nor blamed, or as if, indeed, the dread, or
the shame or the mortification of the rebuked man were of no avail, or
were of any other avail in healthfully stimulating, except to cause that
He who is good may be besought, and so out of evil men who are rebuked
may make good men who may be praised. For what he who will not be rebuked
desires to be done for him, when he says, "Pray for me rather,"--he must
be rebuked for that very reason that he may himself also do for himself;
because that mortification with which he is dissatisfied with himself when
he feels the sting of rebuke, stirs him up to a desire for more earnest
prayer,[1] that, by God's mercy, he may be aided by the increase of love,
and cease to do things which are shameful and mortifying, and do things
praiseworthy and gladdening. This is the benefit of rebuke that is wholesomely
applied, sometimes with greater, sometimes with less severity, in accordance
with the diversity of sins; and it is then wholesome when the supreme Physician
looks. For it is of no profit unless when it makes a man repent of his
sin. And who gives this but He who looked upon the Apostle Peter when he
denied,[2] and made him weep? Whence also the Apostle Paul, after he said
that they were to be rebuked with moderation who thought otherwise, immediately
added, "Lest perchance God give them repentance, to the acknowledging of
the truth, and they recover themselves out of the snares of the devil."[3]

CHAP. 8.--FURTHER REPLIES TO THOSE WHO OBJECT
TO REBUKE.tO

But wherefore do they, who are unwilling be
rebuked, say, "Only prescribe to me, and pray for me that I may do what
you prescribe?" Why do they not rather, in accordance with their own evil
inclination, reject these things also, and say, "I wish you neither to
prescribe to me, nor to pray for me"? For what man is shown to have prayed
for Peter, that God should give him the repentance wherewith he bewailed
the denial of his Lord? What man instructed Paul in the divine precepts
which pertain to the Christian faith? When, therefore, he was heard preaching
the gospel, and saying, "For I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it from man,
nor did I learn it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ,"[4]--would it
be replied to him: "Why are you troubling us to receive and to learn from
you that which you have not received nor learnt from man? He who gave to
you is able also to give to us in like manner as to you." Moreover, if
they dare not say this, but suffer the gospel to be preached to them by
man, although it cannot be given to man by man, let them concede also that
they ought to be rebuked by those who are set over them, by whom Christian
grace is preached; although it is not denied that God is able, even when
no man rebukes, to correct whom He will, and to lead him on to the wholesome
mortification of repentance by the most hidden and mighty power of His
medicine. And as we are not to cease from prayer on behalf of those whom
we desire to be corrected,--even although without any man's prayer on behalf
of Peter, the Lord looked upon him and caused him to bewail his sin,--so
we must not neglect rebuke, although God can make those whom He will to
be corrected, even when not rebuked. But a man then profits by rebuke when
He pities and aids who makes those whom He will to profit even without
rebuke. But wherefore these are called to be reformed in one way, those
in another way, and others in still another way, after different and innumerable
manners, be it far from us to assert that it is the business of the clay
to judge, but of the potter.

CHAP. 9 [VI]--WHY THEY MAY JUSTLY BE REBUKED
WHO DO NOT OBEY GOD, ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED THE GRACE OF OBEDIENCE.

"The apostle says," say they, "'For who maketh
thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? Now also
if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received
it?'[5] Why, then, are we rebuked, censured, reproved, accused? What do
we do, we who have not received?" They who say this wish to appear without
blame in respect of their not obeying God, because assuredly obedience
itself is His gift; and that gift must of necessity be in him in whom dwells
love, which without doubt is of God,[6] and the Father gives it to His
children. "This," say they, "we have not received. Why, then, are we rebuked,
as if we were able to give it to ourselves, and of our own choice would
not give it?" And they do not observe that, if they are not yet regenerated,
the first reason why, when they are reproached because they are disobedient
to God, they ought to be dissatisfied with themselves is, that God made
man upright from the beginning of the human creation,[7] and there is no
unrighteousness with God.[8] And thus the first depravity, whereby God
is not obeyed, is of man, because, falling by his own evil will from the
rectitude in which God at first made him, he became depraved. Is, then,
that depravity not to be rebuked in a man because it is not peculiar to
him who is rebuked, but is common to all? Nay, let that also be rebuked
in individuals, which is common to all. For the circumstance that none
is altogether free from it is no reason why it should not attach to each
man. Those original sins, indeed, are said to be the sins of others, because
individuals derived them from their parents; but they are not unreasonably
said to be our own also, because in that one, as the apostle says, all
have sinned.[1] Let, then, the damnable source be rebuked, that from the
mortification of rebuke may spring the will of regeneration,--if, indeed,
he who is rebuked is a child of promise,--in order that, by the noise of
the rebuke sounding and lashing from without, God may by His hidden inspiration
work in him from within to will also. If, however, being already regenerate
and justified, he relapses of his own will into an evil life, assuredly
he cannot say, "I have not received," because of his own free choice to
evil he has lost the grace of God, that he had received. And if, stung
with compunction by rebuke, he wholesomely bewails, and returns to similar
good works, or even better, certainly here most manifestly appears the
advantage of rebuke. But yet for rebuke by the agency of man to avail,
whether it be of love or not, depends only upon God.

CHAP. 10--ALL PERSEVERANCE IS GOD'S GIFT.

Is such an one as is unwilling to be rebuked
still able to say, "What have I done,--I who have not received?" when it
appears plainly that he has received, and by his own fault has lost that
which he has received? "I am able," says he, "I am altogether able,--when
you reprove me for having of my own will relapsed from a good life into
a bad one,--still to say, What have I done,--I who have not received? For
I have received faith, which worketh by love, but I have not received perseverance
therein to the end. Will any one dare to say that this perseverance is
not the gift of God, and that so great a possession as this is ours in
such wise that if any one have it the apostle could not say to him, 'For
what hast thou which thou hast not received?'[2] since he has this in such
a manner as that he has not received it?" To this, indeed, we are not able
to deny, that perseverance in good, progressing even to the end, is also
a great gift of God; and that it exists not save it come from Him of whom
it is written, "Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming
down from the Father of lights."[3] But the rebuke of him who has not persevered
must not on that account be neglected, "lest God perchance give unto him
repentance, and he recover from the snares of the devil;"[4] since to the
usefulness of rebuke the apostle has subjoined this decision, saying, as
I have above mentioned, "Rebuking with moderation those that think differently,
lest at any time God give them repentance."[4] For if we should say that
such a perseverance, so laudable and so blessed, is man's in such wise
as that he has it not from God, we first of all make void that which the
Lord says to Peter: "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not."[5]
For what did He ask for him, but perseverance to the end? And assuredly,
if a man could have this from man, it should not have been asked from God.
Then when the apostle says, "Now we pray to God that ye do no evil,"[6]
beyond a doubt he prays to God on their behalf for perseverance. For certainly
he does not "do no evil" who forsakes good, and, not persevering in good,
turns to the evil, from which he ought to turn aside.[7] In that place,
moreover, where he says, "I thank my God in every remembrance of you, always
in every prayer of mine for you all making quest with joy for your fellowship[8]
in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very
thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ,"[9]--what else does he promise to them from the mercy
of God than perseverance in good to the end? And again where he says, "Epaphras
saluteth you, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, always striving
for you in prayer, that you may stand perfect and fulfilled in all the
will of God,"[10]--what is "that you may stand" but "that you may persevere"?
Whence it was said of the devil, "He stood not in the truth;"[11] because
he was there, but he did not continue. For assuredly those were already
standing in the faith. And when we pray that he who stands may stand, we
do not pray for anything else than that he may persevere. Jude the apostle,
again, when he says, "Now unto Him that is able to keep you without offence,
and to establish you before the presence of His glory, immaculate in joy,"[12]
does he not most manifestly show that perseverance in good unto the end
is God's gift? For what but a good perseverance does He give who preserves
without offence that He may place before the presence of His glory immaculate
in joy ? What is it, moreover, that we read in the Acts of the Apostles:
"And when the Gentiles heard, they rejoiced and received the word of the
Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed"?[1] Who could
be ordained to eternal life save by the gift of perseverance? And when
we read, "He that shall persevere unto the end shall be saved;"[2] with
what salvation but eternal? And when, in the Lord's Prayer, we say to God
the Father, "Hallowed be Thy name,"[3] what do we ask but that His name
may be hallowed in us? And as this is already accomplished by means of
the layer of regeneration, why is it daily asked by believers, except that
we may persevere in that which is already done in us? For the blessed Cyprian
also understands this in this manner, inasmuch as, in his exposition of
the same prayer, he says: "We say, 'Hallowed be Thy name,' not that we
wish for God that He may be hallowed by our prayers, but that we ask of
God that His name may be hallowed in us. But by whom is God hallowed; since
He Himself hallows? Well, because He said, 'Be ye holy, since I also am
holy;'[4] we ask and entreat that we who have been hallowed in baptism
may persevere in that which we have begun to be."[5] Behold the most glorious
martyr is of this opinion, that what in these words Christ's faithful people
are daily asking is, that they may persevere in that which they have begun
to be. And no one need doubt, but that whosoever prays from the Lord that
he may persevere in good, confesses thereby that such perseverance is His
gift.

CHAP. 11 [VII.]--THEY WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED
THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE, AND HAVE RELAPSED INTO MORTAL SIN AND HAVE DIED
THEREIN, MUST RIGHTEOUSLY BE CONDEMNED.

If, then, these things be so, we still rebuke
those, and reasonably rebuke them, who, although they were living well,
have not persevered therein; because they have of their own will been changed
from a good to an evil life, and on that account are worthy of rebuke;
and if rebuke should be of no avail to them, and they should persevere
in their ruined life until death, they are also worthy of divine condemnation
for ever. Neither shall they excuse themselves, saying,--as now they say,
"Wherefore are we rebuked?"--so then, "Wherefore are we condemned, since
indeed, that we might return from good to evil, we did not receive that
perseverance by which we should abide in good?" They shall by no means
deliver themselves by this excuse from righteous condemnation. For if,
according to the word of truth, no one is delivered from the condemnation
which was incurred through Adam except through the faith of Jesus Christ,
and yet from this condemnation they shall not deliver themselves who shall
be able to say that they have not heard the gospel of Christ, on the ground
that "faith cometh by hearing,"[6] how much less shall they deliver themselves
who shall say, "We have not received perseverance!" For the excuse of those
who say, "We have not received hearing," seems more equitable than that
of those who say, "We have not received perseverance;" since it may be
said, O man, in that which thou hadst heard and kept, in that thou mightest
persevere if thou wouldest; but in no wise can it be said, That which thou
hadst not heard thou mightest believe if thou wouldest.

CHAP. 12.--THEY WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED PERSEVERANCE
ARE NOT DISTINGUISHED FROM THE MASS OF THOSE THAT ARE LOST.

And, consequently, both those who have not
heard the gospel, and those who, having heard it and been changed by it
for the better, have not received perseverance, and those who, having heard
the gospel, have refused to come to Christ, that is, to believe on Him,
since He Himself says, "No man cometh unto me, except it were given him
of my Father,"[7] and those who by their tender age were unable to believe,
but might be absolved from original sin by the sole layer of regeneration,
and yet have not received this laver, and have perished in death: are not
made to differ from that lump which it is plain is condemned, as all go
from one into condemnation. Some are made to differ, however, not by their
own merits, but by the grace of the Mediator; that is to say, they are
justified freely in the blood of the second Adam. Therefore, when we hear,
"For who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received?
Now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not
received it?"[8] we ought to understand that from that mass of perdition
which originated through the first Adam, no one can be made to differ except
he who has this gift, which whosoever has, has received by the grace of
the Saviour. And this apostolical testimony is so great, that the blessed
Cyprian writing to Quirinus put it in the place of a title, when he says,
"That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own."[9]

CHAP. 13.--ELECTION IS OF GRACE, NOT OF MERIT.

Whosoever, then, are made to differ from that
original condemnation by such bounty of divine grace, there is no doubt
but that for such it is provided that they should hear the gospel, and
when they hear they believe, and in the faith which worketh by love they
persevere unto the end; and if, perchance, they deviate from the way, when
they are rebuked they are amended and some of them, although they may not
be rebuked by men, return into the path which they had left; and some who
have received grace in any age whatever are withdrawn from the perils of
this life by swiftness of death. For He work-eth all these things in them
who made them vessels of mercy, who also elected them in His Son before
the foundation of the world by the election of grace: "And if by grace,
then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace."[1] For
they were not so called as not to be elected, in respect of which it is
said, "For many are called but few are elected;"[2] but because they were
called according to the purpose, they are of a certainty also elected by
the election, as it is said, of grace, not of any precedent merits of theirs,
because to them grace is all merit.

CHAP. 14.--NONE OF THE ELECT AND PREDESTINATED
CAN PERISH.

Of such says the apostle, "We know that to
those that love God He worketh together all things for good, to them who
are called according to His purpose; because those whom He before foreknew,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom
He justified, them He also glorified."[3] Of these no one perishes, because
all are elected. And they are elected because they were called according
to the purpose--the purpose, however, not their own, but God's; of which
He elsewhere says, "That the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her that
the elder shall serve the younger."[4] And in another place he says, "Not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace."[5]
When, therefore, we hear," Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He
also called,"[6] we ought to acknowledge that they were called according
to His purpose; since He thence began, saying, "He worketh together all
things for good to those who are called according to His purpose," and
then added, "Because those whom He before foreknew, He also did predestinate,
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born
among many brethren And to these promises He added, "Moreover, whom, He
did predestinate, them He also called." He wishes these, therefore, to
be understood whom He called according to His purpose, lest any among them
should be thought to be called and not elected, on account of that sentence
of the Lord's: "Many the called but few are elected."[2] For whoever are
elected are without doubt also called; but not whosoever are called are
as a consequence elected. Those, then, are elected, as has often been said,
who are called according to the purpose, who also are predestinated and
foreknown. If any one of these perishes, God is mistaken; but none of them
perishes, because God is not mistaken. If any one of these perish, God
is overcome by human sin; but none of them perishes, because God is overcome
by nothing. Moreover, they are elected to reign with Christ, not as Judas
was elected, to a work for which he was fitted. Because he was chosen by
Him who well knew how to make use even of wicked men, so that even by his
damnable deed that venerable work, for the sake of which He Himself had
come, might be accomplished. When, therefore, we hear, "Have not I chosen
you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"[7] we ought to understand that
the rest were elected by mercy, but he by judgment; those to obtain His
kingdom, he to shed His blood!

CHAP. 15.--PERSEVERANCE IS GIVEN TO THE END.

Rightly follows the word to the kingdom of
the elect: "If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how has He not also with
Him given us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? God who justifieth? Who condemneth? Christ who died? yea, rather
who rose again also, who is at the right hand of God, who also soliciteth
on our behalf?"[8] And of how stedfast a perseverance even to the end they
have received the gift, let them follow on to say: "Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, Because
for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter. But in all these things we are more than conquerors,
through Him that hath loved us. For I am certain, that neither death, nor
life, nor angel, nor principality, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."[9]

CHAP. 16.--WHOSOEVER DO NOT PERSEVERE ARE
NOT DISTINGUISHED FROM THE MASS OF PERDITION BY PREDESTINATION.

Such as these were they who were signified
to Timothy, where, when it had been said that Hymenaeus and Philetus had
subverted the faith of some, it is presently added, "Nevertheless the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord has known them that are
His."[1] The faith of these, which worketh by love, either actually does
not fail at all, or, if there are any whose faith fails, it is restored
before their life is ended, and the iniquity which had intervened is done
away, and perseverance even to the end is allotted to them. But they who
are not to persevere, and who shall so fall away from Christian faith and
conduct that the end of this life shall find them in that case, beyond
all doubt are not to be reckoned in the number of these, even in that season
wherein they are living well and piously. For they are not made to differ
from that mass of perdition by the foreknowledge and predestination of
God, and therefore are not called according to God's purpose, and thus
are not elected; but are called among those of whom it was said, "Many
are called," not among those of whom it was said, "But few are elected."
And yet who can deny that they are elect, since they believe and are baptized,
and live according to God? Manifestly, they are called elect by those who
are ignorant of what they shall be, but not by Him who knew that they would
not have the perseverance which leads the elect forward into the blessed
life, and knows that they so stand, as that He has foreknown that they
will fall.

CHAP. 17 [VIII.]--WHY PERSEVERANCE SHOULD
BE GIVEN TO ONE AND NOT ANOTHER IS INSCRUTABLE.

Here, if I am asked why God should not have
given them perseverance to whom He gave that love by which they might live
Christianly, I answer that I do not know. For I do not speak arrogantly,
but with acknowledgment of my small measure, when I hear the apostle saying,
"O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"[2] and, "O the depth of
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways untraceable!"[3] So far, therefore, as He condescends
to manifest His judgments to us, let us give thanks; but so far as He thinks
fit to conceal them, let us not murmur against His counsel, but believe
that this also is the most wholesome for us. But whoever you are that are
hostile to His grace, and thus ask, what do you yourself say? it is well
that you do not deny yourself to be a Christian and boast of being a catholic.
If, therefore, you confess that to persevere to the end in good is God's
gift, I think that equally with me you are ignorant why one man should
receive this gift and another should not receive it; and in this case we
are both unable to penetrate the unsearchable judgments of God. Or if you
say that it pertains to man's free will--which you defend, not in accordance
with God's grace, but in opposition to it--that any one should persevere
in good, or should not persevere, and it is not by the gift of God if he
persevere, but by the performance of human will, why will you strive against
the words of Him who says, "I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith
fail not"?[4] Will you dare to say that even when Christ prayed that Peter's
faith might not fail, it would still have failed if Peter had willed it
to fail; that is, if he had been unwilling that it should continue even
to the end? As if Peter could in any measure will otherwise than Christ
had asked for him that he might will. For who does not know that Peter's
faith would then have perished if that will by which he was faithful should
fail, and that it would have continued if that same will should abide?
But because "the will is prepared by the Lord,"[5] therefore Christ's petition
on his behalf could not be a vain petition. When, then, He prayed that
his faith should not fail, what was it that he asked for, but that in his
faith he should have a most free, strong, invincible, persevering will!
Behold to what an extent the freedom of the will is defended in accordance
with the grace of God, not in opposition to it; because the human will
does not attain grace by freedom, but rather attains freedom by grace,
and a delightful constancy, and an insuperable fortitude that it may persevere.

CHAP. 18.--SOME INSTANCES OF GOD'S AMAZING
JUDGMENTS.

It is, indeed, to be wondered at, and greatly
to be wondered at, that to some of His own children--whom He has regenerated
in Christ--to whom He has given faith, hope, and love, God does not give
perseverance also, when to children of another He forgives such wickedness,
and, by the bestowal of His grace, makes them His own children. Who would
not wonder at this? Who would not be exceedingly astonished at this? But,
moreover, it is not less marvellous, and still true, and so manifest that
not even the enemies of God's grace can find any means of denying it, that
some children of His friends, that is, of regenerated and good believers,
departing this life as infants without baptism, although He certainly might
provide the grace of this layer if He willed, since in His power are all
things,--He alienates from His kingdom into which He introduces their parents;
and some children of His enemies He causes to come into the hands of Christians,
and by means of this layer introduces into the kingdom, from which their
parents are aliens; although, as well to the former infants there is no
evil deserving, as to the latter there is no good, of their own proper
will. Certainly, in this case the judgments of God, because they are righteous
and deep, may neither be blamed nor penetrated. Among these also is that
concerning perseverance, of which we are now discoursing. Of both, therefore,
we may exclaim, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge
of God! how unsearchable are His judgments!"[1]

CHAP. 19.--GOD'S WAYS PAST FINDING OUT.

Nor let us wonder that we cannot trace His
unsearchable ways. For, to say nothing of innumerable other things which
are given by the Lord God to some men, and to others are not given, since
with Him is no respect of persons; such things as are not conferred on
the merits of will, as bodily swiftness, strength, good health, and beauty
of body, marvellous intellects and mental natures capable of many arts,
or such as fall to man's lot from without, such as are wealth, nobility,
honours, and other things of this kind, which it is in the power of God
alone that a man should have; not to dwell even on the baptism of infants
(which none of those objectors can say does not pertain, as might be said
of those other matters, to the kingdom of God), why it is given to this
infant and not given to that, since both of them are equally in God's power,
and without that sacrament none can enter into the kingdom of God;--to
be silent, then, on these matters, or to leave them on one side, let men
consider those very special cases of which we are treating. For we are
discoursing of such as have not perseverance in goodness, but die in the
decline of their good will from good to evil. Let the objectors answer,
if they can, why, when these were living faithfully and piously, God did
not then snatch them from the perils of this life, "lest wickedness should
change their understanding, and lest deceit should beguile their souls"?[2]
Had He not this in His power, or was He ignorant of their future sinfulness?
Assuredly, nothing of this kind is said, except most perversely and insanely.
Why, then, did He not do this? Let them reply who mock at us when in such
matters we exclaim, "How inscrutable are His judgments, and His ways past
finding out!"[1] For either God giveth this to whom He will, or certainly
that Scripture is wrong which says concerning the immature death of the
righteous man, "He was taken away test wickedness should change his understanding,
or lest deceit should beguile his soul."[2] Why, then, does God give this
so great benefit to some, and not give it to others, seeing that in Him
is no unrighteousness[3] nor acceptance of persons,[4] and that it is in
His power how long every one may remain in this life, which is called a
trial upon earth?[5] As, then, they are constrained to confess that it
is God's gift for a man to end this life of his before it can be changed
from good to evil, but they do not know why it is given to some and not
given to others, so let them confess with us that perseverance in good
is God's gift, according to the Scriptures, from which I have already set
down many testimonies; and let them condescend with us to be ignorant,
without a murmur against God, why it is given to some and not given to
others.

CHAP. 20 [IX.]--SOME ARE CHILDREN OF GOD ACCORDING
TO GRACE TEMPORALLY RECEIVED, SOME ACCORDING TO GOD'S ETERNAL FOREKNOWLEDGE.

Nor let it disturb us that to some of His
children God does not give this perseverance. Be this far from being so,
however, if these were of those who are predestinated and called according
to His purpose,--who are truly the children of the promise. For the former,
while they live piously, are called children of God; but because they will
live wickedly, and die in that impiety, the foreknowledge of God does not
call them God's children. For they are children of God whom as yet we have
not, and God has already, of whom the Evangelist John says, "that Jesus
should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also
He should gather together in one the children of God which were scattered
abroad;"[6] and this certainly they were to become by believing, through
the preaching of the gospel. And yet before this had happened they had
already been enrolled as sons of God with unchangeable stedfastness in
the memorial of their Father. And, again, there are some who are called
by us children of God on account of grace received even in temporal things,
yet are not so called by God; of whom the same John says, "They went out
from us, but they were not of us, because if they had been of us they would,
no doubt, have continued with us."[7] He does not say, "They went out from
us, but because they did not abide with us they are no longer now of us;"
but he says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us,"--that is
to say, even when they appeared among us, they were not of us. And as if
it were said to him, Whence do you prove this? he says, "Because if they
had been of us, they would assuredly have continued with us."[1] It is
the word of God's children; John is the speaker, who was ordained to a
chief place among the children of God. When, therefore, God's children
say of those who had not perseverance, "They went out from us, but they
were not of us," and add, "Because if they had been of us, they would assuredly
have continued with us," what else do they say than that they were not
children, even when they were in the profession and name of children? Not
because they simulated righteousness, but because they did not continue
in it. For he does not say, "For if they had been of us, they would assuredly
have maintained a real and not a feigned righteousness with us;" but he
says, "If they had been of us, they would assuredly have continued with
us." Beyond a doubt, he wished them to continue in goodness. Therefore
they were in goodness; but because they did not abide in it,--that is,
they did not persevere unto the end,--he says, They were not of us, even
when they were with us,--that is, they were not of the number of children,
even when they were in the faith of children; because they who are truly
children are foreknown and predestinated as conformed to the image of His
Son, and are called according to His purpose, so as to be elected. For
the son of promise does not perish. but the son of perdition.[2]

CHAP. 21.--WHO MAY BE UNDERSTOOD AS GIVEN
TO CHRIST.

Those, then, were of the multitude of the
called, but they were not of the fewness of the elected. It is not, therefore,
to His predestinated children that God has not given perseverance for they
would have it if they were in that number of children; and what would they
have which they had not received, according to the apostolical and true
judgment?[3] And thus such children would be given to Christ the Son just
as He Himself says to the Father, "That all that Thou hast given me may
not perish, but have eternal life."[4] Those, therefore, are understood
to be given to Christ who are ordained to eternal life. These are they
who are predestinated and called according to the purpose, of whom not
one perishes. And therefore none of them ends this life when he has changed
from good to evil, because he is so ordained, and for that purpose given
to Christ, that he may not perish, but may have eternal life. And again,
those whom we call His enemies, or the infant children of His enemies,
whomever of them He will so regenerate that they may end this life in that
faith which worketh by love, are already, and before this is done, in that
predestination His children, and are given to Christ His Son, that they
may not perish, but have everlasting life.

CHAP. 22.--TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE TRUE DISCIPLES
OF CHRIST.

Finally, the Saviour Himself says, "If ye
continue in my word, ye are indeed my disciples."[5]] Is Judas, then, to
be reckoned among them, since he did not continue in His word? Are they
to be reckoned among them of whom the gospel speaks in such wise, where,
when the Lord had commanded His flesh to be eaten and His blood to be drunk,
the Evangelist says, "These things said He in the synagogue as He taught
in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples, when they had heard this,
said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? But Jesus, knowing in Himself
that His disciples were murmuring at it, said to them, Doth this offend
you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before?
It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing. The
words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and life. But there are some
of you who believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the
believing ones, and who should betray Him; and He said, Therefore said
I unto you, that no man cometh unto me except it were given of my Father.
From this time many of His disciples went away back from Him, and no longer
walked with Him.''[6] Are not these even in the words of the gospel called
disciples? And yet they were not truly disciples, because they did not
continue in His word, according to what He says: "If ye continue in my
word, then are ye indeed my disciples."[5] Because, therefore, they possessed
not perseverance, as not being truly disciples of Christ, so they were
not truly children of God even when they appeared to be so, and were so
called. We, then, call men elected, and Christ's disciples, and God's children,
because they are to be so called whom, being regenerated, we see to live
piously; but they are then truly what they are called if they shall abide
in that on account of which they are so called. But if they have not perseverance,--that
is, if they continue not in that which they have begun to be,--they are
not truly called what they are called and are not; for they are not this
in the sight of Him to whom it is known what they are going to be,--that
is to say, from good men, bad men.

CHAP. 23.--THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING
TO THE PURPOSE ALONE ARE PREDESTINATED.

For this reason the apostle, when he had said,
"We know that to those who love God He worketh all things together for
good,"--knowing that some love God, and do not continue in that good way
unto the end,--immediately added, "to them who are the called according
to His purpose."[1] For these in their love for God continue even to the
end; and they who for a season wander from the way return, that they may
continue unto the end what they had begun to be in good. Showing, however,
what it is to be called according to His purpose, he presently added what
I have already quoted above, "Because whom He did before foreknow, He also
predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called," to wit, according to His purpose; "and whom He called,
them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified."[2]
All those things are already done: He foreknew, He predestinated, He called,
He justified; because both all are already foreknown and predestinated,
and many are already called and justified; but that which he placed at
the end, "them He also glorified" (if, indeed, that glory is here to be
understood of which the same apostle says, "When Christ your life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory"[3]), this is not yet
accomplished. Although, also, those two things--that is, He called, and
He justified--have not been effected in all of whom they are said,--for
still, even until the end of the world, there remain many to be called
and justified,--nevertheless, He used verbs of the past tense, even concerning
things future, as if God had already arranged from eternity that they should
come to pass. For this reason, also, the prophet Isaiah says concerning
Him, "Who has made the things that shall be."[4] Whosoever, therefore,
in God's most providential ordering, are foreknown, predestinated, called,
justified, glorified,--I say not, even although not yet born again, but
even although not yet born at all, are already children of God, and absolutely
cannot perish. These truly come to Christ, because they come in such wise
as He Himself says, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will not cast out;"[5] and a little after He says,
"This is the will of the Father who hath sent me, that of all that He hath
given me I shall lose nothing."[6] From Him, therefore, is given also perseverance
in good even to the end; for it is not given save to those who shall not
perish, since they who do not persevere shall perish.

CHAP. 24.--EVEN THE SINS OF THE ELECT ARE
TURNED BY GOD TO THEIR ADVANTAGE.

To such as love Him, God co-worketh with all
things for good; so absolutely all things, that even if any of them go
astray, and break out of the way, even this itself He makes to avail them
for good, so that they return more lowly and more instructed. For they
learn that in the right way[7] itself they ought to rejoice with trembling;
not with arrogation to themselves of confidence of abiding as if by their
own strength; not with saying, in their abundance, "We shall not be moved
for ever."[8] For which reason it is said to them, "Serve the Lord in fear,
and rejoice unto Him with trembling, lest at any time the Lord should be
angry, and ye perish from the right way."[9] For He does not say, "And
ye come not into the right way;" but He says, "Lest ye perish from the
right way." And what does this show, but that those who are already walking
in the right way are reminded to serve God in fear; that is, "not to be
high-minded, but to fear"?[10] which signifies, that they should not be
haughty, but humble. Whence also He says in another place, "not minding
high things, but consenting with the lowly;"[11] let them rejoice in God,
but with trembling; glorying in none, since nothing is ours, so that he
who glori-eth may glory in the Lord, lest they perish from the right way
in which they have already begun to walk, while they are ascribing to themselves
their very presence in it. These words also the apostle made use of when
he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." [12] And
setting forth why with fear and trembling, he says, "For it is God that
worketh in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure."[13] For
he had not this fear and trembling who said in his abundance, "I shall
not be moved for ever."[8] But because he was a child of the promise, not
of perdition, he experienced in God's desertion for a little while what
he himself was: "Lord," said he, "in Thy favour Thou gavest strength to
my honour; Thou turnedst away Thy face from me, and I became troubled."[14]
Behold how much better instructed, and for this reason also more humble,
he held on his way, at length seeing and confessing that by His will God
had endowed his honour with strength; and this he had attributed to himself
and presumed to be from himself, in such abundance as God had afforded
it, and not from Him who had given it, and so had said, "I shall not be
moved for ever!" Therefore he became troubled so that he found himself,
and being lowly minded learnt not only of eternal life, but, moreover,
of a pious conversation and perseverance in this life, as that in which
hope should be maintained. This might moreover be the word of the Apostle
Peter, because he also had said in his abundance, "I will lay down my life
for Thy sake;"[1] attributing to himself, in his eagerness, what was afterwards
to be bestowed on him by his Lord. But the Lord turned away His face from
him, and be became troubled, so that in his fear of dying for Him he thrice
denied Him. But the Lord again turned His face to him, and washed away
his sin with his tears. For what else is, "He turned and looked upon him,"[2]
but, He restored to him the face which, for a little while, He had turned
away from him? Therefore he had become troubled; but because he learned
not to be confident concerning himself, even this was of excellent profit
to him, by His agency who co-works for good with all things to those who
love Him; because he had been called according to the purpose, so that
no one could pluck him out of the hand of Christ, to whom he had been given.

CHAP. 25.--THEREFORE REBUKE IS TO BE USED.Let no one therefore say that a man must
not be rebuked when he deviates from the right way, but that his return
and perseverance must only be asked for from the Lord for him. Let no considerate
and believing man say this. For if such an one is called according to the
purpose, beyond all doubt God is co-working for good to him even in the
fact of his being rebuked. But since he who rebukes is ignorant whether
he is so called, let him do with love what he knows ought to be done; for
he knows that such an one ought to be rebuked. God will show either mercy
or judgment; mercy, indeed, if be who is rebuked is "made to differ" by
the bestowal of grace from the mass of perdition, and is not found among
the vessels of wrath which are completed for destruction, but among the
vessels of mercy which God has prepared for glory;[3] but judgment, if
among the former he is condemned, and is not predestinated among the latter.

CHAP. 26 [X.]--WHETHER ADAM RECEIVED THE GIFT
OF PERSEVERANCE.

Here arises another question, not reasonably
to be slighted, but to be approached and solved in the help of the Lord
in whose hand are both we and our discourses.[4] For I am asked, in respect
of this gift of God which is to persevere in good to the end, what I think
of the first man himself, who assuredly was made upright without any fault.
And I do not say: If he had not perseverance, how was he without fault,
seeing that he was in want of so needful a gift of God? For to this interrogatory
the answer is easy, that he had not perseverance, because he did not persevere
in that goodness in which he was without sin; for he began to have sin
from the point at which he fell; and if he began, certainly he was without
sin before he had begun. For it is one thing not to have sin, and it is
another not to abide in that goodness in which there is no sin. Because
in that very fact, that he is not said never to have been without sin,
but he is said not to have continued without sin, beyond all doubt it is
demonstrated that he was without sin, seeing that he is blamed for not
having continued in that goodness. But it should rather be asked and discussed
with greater pains in what way we can answer those who say, "If in that
uprightness in which he was made without sin he had perseverance, beyond
all doubt he persevered in it; and if he persevered, he certainly did not
sin, and did not forsake that his uprightness. But that he did sin, and
was a forsaker of goodness, the Truth declares. Therefore he had not perseverance
in that goodness; and if he had it not, he certainly received it not. For
how should he have both received perseverance, and not have persevered?
Further, if he had it not because he did not receive it, what sin did he
commit by not persevering, if he did not receive perseverance? For it cannot
be said that he did not receive it, for the reason that he was not separated
by the bestowal of grace from the mass of perdition. Because that mass
of perdition did not as yet exist in the human race before he had sinned
from whom the corrupted source was derived."

CHAP. 27.--THE ANSWER.

Wherefore we most wholesomely confess what
we most correctly believe, that the God and Lord of all things, who in
His strength created all things good, and foreknew that evil things would
arise out of good, and knew that it pertained to His most omnipotent goodness
even to do good out of evil things rather than not to allow evil things
to be at all, so ordained the life of angels and men that in it He might
first of all show what their free will was capable of, and then what the
kindness of His grace and the judgment of His righteousness was capable
of. Finally, certain angels, of whom the chief is he who is called the
devil, became by free will outcasts from the Lord God. Yet although they
fled from His goodness, wherein they had been blessed, they could not flee
from His judgment, by which they were made most wretched. Others, however,
by the same free will stood fast in the truth, and merited the knowledge
of that most certain truth that they should never fall.[5] For if from
the Holy Scriptures we have been able to attain the knowledge that none
of the holy angels shall fall evermore, how much more have they themselves
attained this knowledge by the truth more sublimely revealed to them! Because
to us is promised a blessed life without end, and equality with the angels,[1]
from which promise we are certified that when after judgment we shall have
come to that life, we shall not fall from it; but if the angels are ignorant
of this truth concerning themselves, we shall not be their equals, but
more blessed than they. But the Truth has promised us equality with them.
It is certain, then, that they have known this by sight, which we have
known by faith, to wit, that there shall be now no more any fall of any
holy angel. But the devil and his angels, although they were blessed before
they fell, and did not know that they should fall unto misery,--there was
still something which might be added to their blessedness, if by free will
they had stood in the truth, until they should receive that fulness of
the highest blessing as the reward of that continuance; that is, that by
the great abundance of the love of God, given by the Holy Spirit, they
should absolutely not be able to fall any more, and that they should know
this with complete certainty concerning themselves. They had not this plenitude
of blessedness; but since they were ignorant of their future misery, they
enjoyed a blessedness which was less, indeed, but still without any defect.
For if they had known their future fall and eternal punishment, they certainly
could not have been blessed; since the fear of so great an evil as this
would compel them even then to be miserable.

CHAP. 28.--THE FIRST MAN HIMSELF ALSO MIGHT
HAVE STOOD BY HIS FREE WILL.

Thus also He made man with free will; and
although ignorant of his future fall, yet therefore happy, because he thought
it was in his own power both not to die and not to become miserable. And
if he had willed by his own free will to continue in this state of uprightness
and freedom from sin, assuredly without any experience of death and of
unhappiness he would have received by the merit of that continuance the
fulness of blessing with which the holy angels also are blessed; that is,
the impossibility of falling any more, and the knowledge of this with absolute
certainty. For even he himself could not be blessed although in Paradise,
nay, he would not be there, where it would not become him to be miserable,
if the foreknowledge of his fall had made him wretched with the dread of
such a disaster. But because he forsook God of his free will, he experienced
the just judgment of God, that with his whole race, which being as yet
all placed in him had sinned with him, he should be condemned. For as mary
of this race as are delivered by God's grace are certainly delivered from
the condemnation in which they are already held bound. Whence, even if
none should be delivered, no one could justly blame the judgment of God.
That, therefore, in comparison of those that perish few, but in their absolute
number many, are delivered, is effected by grace,[2] is effected freely:[2]
thanks must be given, because it is effected, so that no one may be lifted
up as of his own deservings, but that every mouth may be stopped,[3] and
he that glorieth may glory in the Lord.[4]

CHAP. 29 [XI.]--DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE GRACE
GIVEN BEFORE AND AFTER THE FALL.

What then? Did not Adam have the grace of
God? Yes, truly, he had it largely, but of a different kind. He was placed
in the midst of benefits which he had received from the goodness of his
Creator; for he had not procured those benefits by his own deservings;
in which benefits he suffered absolutely no evil. But saints in this life,
to whom pertains this grace of deliverance, are in the midst of evils out
of which they cry to God, "Deliver us from evil."[5] He in those benefits
needed not the death of Christ: these, the blood of that Lamb absolves
from guilt, as well inherited as their own. He had no need of that assistance
which they implore when they say, "I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind, and making me captive in the law of sin which
is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord."[6]
Because in them the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh, and as they labour and are imperilled in such a contest, they
ask that by the grace of Christ the strength to fight and to conquer may
be given them. He, however, tempted and disturbed in no such conflict concerning
himself against himself, in that position of blessedness enjoyed his peace
with himself.

CHAP. 30.--THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD.

Hence, although these do not now require a
grace more joyous for the present, they nevertheless need a more powerful
grace; and what grace is more powerful than the only-begotten Son of God,
equal to the Father and co-eternal, made man for them, and, without any
sin of His own, either original or actual, crucified by men who were shiners?
And although He rose again on the third day, never to die any more, He
yet bore death for men and gave life to the dead, so that redeemed by His
blood, having received so great and such a pledge, they could say, "If
God be for us, who is against us? He who spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how has He not with Him also given to us all things?"[1]
God therefore took upon Him our nature--that is, the rational soul and
flesh of the man Christ--by an undertaking singularly marvellous, or marvellously
singular; so that with no preceding merits of His own righteousness He
might in such wise be the Son of God from the beginning, in which He had
begun to be man, that He, and the Word which is without beginning, might
be one person. For there is no one blinded by such ignorance of this matter
and the Faith as to dare to say that, although born of the Holy Spirit
and the Virgin Mary the Son of man, yet of His own free will by righteous
living and by doing good works, without sin, He deserved to be the Son
of God; in opposition to the gospel, which says, "The Word was made flesh."[2]
For where was this made flesh except in the Virginal womb, whence was the
beginning of the man Christ? And, moreover, when the Virgin asked how that
should come to pass which was told her by the angel, the angel answered
"The Holy Ghost shall come over on to thee and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee, therefore that holy thing that shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God."[3] "Therefore," he said; not because
of works of which certainly of a yet unborn infant there are none; but
"therefore," because "the Holy Ghost shall come over on to thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." That nativity, absolutely
gratuitous, conjoined, in the unity of the person, man to God, flesh to
the Word! Good works followed that nativity; good works did not merit it.
For it was in no wise to be feared that the human nature taken up by God
the Word in that ineffable manner into a unity of person, would sin by
free choice of will, since that taking up itself was such that the nature
of man so taken up by God would admit into itself no movement of an evil
will. Through this Mediator God makes known that He makes those whom He
redeemed by His blood from evil, everlastingly good; and Him He in such
wise assumed that He never would be evil, and, not being made out of evil,
would always be good.[4]

CHAP. 31.--THE FIRST MAN HAD RECEIVED THE
GRACE NECESSARY FOR HIS PERSEVERANCE, BUT ITS EXERCISE WAS LEFT IN HIS
FREE CHOICE.

The first man had not that grace by which
he should never will to be evil; but assuredly he had that in which if
he willed to abide he would never be evil, and without which, moreover,
he could not by free will be good, but which, nevertheless, by free will
he could forsake. God, therefore, did not will even him to be without His
grace, which He left in his free will; because free will is sufficient
for evil, but is too little s for good, unless it is aided by Omnipotent
Good. And if that man had not forsaken that assistance of his free will,
he would always have been good; but he forsook it, and he was forsaken.
Because such was the nature of the aid, that he could forsake it when he
would, and that he could continue in it if he would; but not such that
it could be brought about that he would. This first is the grace which
was given to the first Adam; but more powerful than this is that in the
second Adam. For the first is that whereby it is affected that a man may
have righteousness if he will; the second, therefore, can do more than
this, since by it is even effected that he will, and will so much, and
love with such ardour, that by the will of the Spirit he overcomes the
will of the flesh, that lusteth in opposition to it.[6] Nor was that, indeed.
a small grace by which was demonstrated even the power of free will, because
man was so assisted that without this assistance he could not continue
in good, but could forsake this assistance if he would. But this latter
grace is by so much the greater, that it is too little for a man by its
means to regain his lost freedom; it is too little, finally, not to be
able without it either to apprehend the good or to continue in good if
he will, unless he is also made to will.

CHAP. 32.--THE GIFTS OF GRACE CONFERRED ON
ADAM IN CREATION.

At that time, therefore, God had given to
man a good will,[7] because in that will He had made him, since He had
made him upright. He had given help without which he could not continue
therein if he would; but that he should will, He left in his free will.
He could therefore continue if he would, because the help was not wanting
whereby he could, and without which he could not, perseveringly hold fast
the good which he would. But that he willed not to continue is absolutely
the fault of him whose merit it would have been if he had willed to continue;
as the holy angels did, who, while others fell by free will, themselves
by the same free will stood, and deserved to receive the due reward of
this continuance--to wit, such a fulness of blessing that by it they might
have the fullest certainty of always abiding in it. If, however, this help
had been wanting, either to angel or to man when they were first made,
since their nature was not made such that without the divine help it could
abide if it would, they certainly would not have fallen by their own fault,
because the help would have been wanting without which they could not continue.
At the present time, however, to those to whom such assistance is wanting,
it is the penalty of sin; but to those to whom it is given, it is given
of grace, not of debt; and by so much the more is given through Jesus Christ
our Lord to those to whom it has pleased God to give it, that not only
we have that help without which we cannot continue even if we will, but,
moreover, we have so great and such a help! as to will. Because by this
grace of God there is caused in us, in the reception of good and in the
persevering hold of it, not only to be able to do what we will, but even
to will to do what we are able. But this was not the case in the first
man; for the one of these things was in him, but the other was not. For
he did not need grace to receive good, because he had not yet lost it;
but he needed the aid of grace to continue in it, and without this aid
he could not do this at all; and he had received the ability if he would,
but he had not the will for what he could; for if he had possessed it,
he would have persevered. For he could persevere if he would; but that
he would not was the result of free will, which at that time was in such
wise free that he was capable of willing well and ill. For what shall be
more free than free will, when it shall not be able to serve sin? and this
should be to man also as it was made to the holy angels, the reward of
deserving. But now that good deserving has been lost by sin, in those who
are delivered that has become the gift of grace which would have been the
reward of deserving.

CHAP. 33 [XII.]--WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THE ABILITY NOT TO SIN, TO DIE, AND FORSAKE GOOD, AND THE INABILITY TO
SIN, TO DIE, AND TO FORSAKE GOOD?

On which account we must consider with diligence
and attention in what respect those pairs differ from one another,--to
be able not to sin, and not to be able to sin; to be able not to die, and
not to be able to die; to be able not to forsake good, and not to be able
to forsake good. For the first man was able not to sin, was able not to
die, was able not to forsake good. Are we to say that he who had such a
free will could not sin? Or that he to whom it was said, "If thou shalt
sin thou shalt die by death," could not die? Or that he could not forsake
good, when he would forsake this by sinning, and so die? Therefore the
first liberty of the will was to be able not to sin, the last will be much
greater, not to be able to sin; the first immortality was to be able not
to die, the last will be much greater, not to be able to die; the first
was the power of perseverance, to be able not to forsake good--the last
will be the felicity of perseverance, not to be able to forsake good. But
because the last blessings will be preferable and better, were those first
ones, therefore, either no blessings at all, or trifling ones?

CHAP. 34.--THE AID WITHOUT WHICH A THING DOES
NOT COME TO PASS, AND THE AID WITH WHICH A THING COMES TO PASS.

Moreover, the aids themselves are to be distinguished.
The aid without which a thing does not come to pass is one thing, and the
aid by which a thing comes to pass is another. For without food we cannot
live; and yet although food should be at hand, it would not cause a man
to live who should will to die. Therefore the aid of food is that without
which it does not come to pass that we live, not that by which it comes
to pass that we live. But, indeed, when the blessedness which a man has
not is given him, he becomes at once blessed. For the aid is not only that
without which that does not happen, but also with which that does happen
for the sake of which it is given. Wherefore this is an assistance both
by which it comes to pass, and without which it does not come to pass;
because, on the one hand, if blessedness should be given to a man, he becomes
at once blessed; and, on the other, if it should never be given he will
never be so. But food does not of necessity cause a man to live, and yet
without it he cannot live. Therefore to the first man, who, in that good
in which he had been made upright, had received the ability not to sin,
the ability not to die, the ability not to forsake that good itself, was
given the aid of perseverance,--not that by which it should be brought
about that he should persevere, but that without which he could not of
free will persevere. But now to the saints predestinated to the kingdom
of God by God's grace, the aid of perseverance that is given is not such
as the former, but such that to them perseverance itself is bestowed; not
only so that without that gift they cannot persevere, but, moreover, so
that by means of this gift they cannot help persevering. For not only did
He say, "Without me ye can do nothing,"[1] but He also said, "Ye have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and
bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."[2] By which words
He showed that He had given them not only righteousness, but perseverance
therein. For when Christ thus ordained them that they should go and bring
forth fruit, and that their fruit should remain, who would dare to say,
It shall not remain? Who would dare to say, Perchance it will not remain?
"For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;"[1] but the calling
is of those who are called according to the purpose. When Christ intercedes,
therefore, on behalf of these, that their faith should not fail, doubtless
it will not fail unto the end. And thus it shall persevere even unto the
end; nor shall the end of this life find it anything but continuing.

CHAP. 35.--THERE IS A GREATER FREEDOM NOW
IN THE SAINTS THAN THERE WAS BEFORE IN ADAM.

Certainly a greater liberty is necessary in
the face of so many and so great temptations, which had no existence in
Paradise,--a liberty fortified and confirmed by the gift of perseverance,
so that this world, with all its loves, its fears, its errors, may be overcome:
the martyrdoms of the saints have taught this. In fine, he [Adam], not
only with nobody to make him afraid, but, moreover, in spite of the authority
of God's fear, using free will, did not stand in such a state of happiness,
in such a facility[2] of [not] sinning. But these [the saints], I say,
not trader the fear of the world, but in spite of the rage of the world
lest they should stand, stood firm in the faith; while he could see the
good things present which he was going to forsake, they could not see the
good things future which they were going to receive. Whence is this, save
by the gift of Him from whom they obtained mercy to be faithful; from whom
they received the spirit, not of fear, whereby they would yield to the
persecutors, but of power, and of love, and of continence, in which they
could overcome all threatenings, all seductions, all torments? To him,
therefore, without any sin, was given the free will with which he was created;
and he made it to serve sin. But although the will of these had been the
servant of sin, it was delivered by Him who said, "If the Son shall make
you free, then shall ye be free indeed."[3] And by that grace they receive
so great a freedom, that although as long as they live here they are fighting
against sinful lusts, and some sins creep upon them unawares, on account
of which they daily say, "Forgive us our debts,"[4] yet they do not any
more obey the sin which is unto death, of which the Apostle John says,
"There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."[5]
Concerning which sin (since it is not expressed) many and different notions
may be entertained. I, however, say, that sin is to forsake even unto death
the faith which worketh by love. This sin they no longer serve who are
not in the first condition, as Adam, free; but are freed by the grace of
God through the second Adam, and by that deliverance have that free will
which enables them to serve God, not that by which they may be made captive
by the devil. From being made free from sin they have become the servants
of righteousness,[6] in which they will stand till the end, by the gift
to them of perseverance from Him who foreknew them, and predestinated them,
and called them according to His purpose, and justified them, and glorified
them, since He has even already formed those things that are to come which
He promised concerning them. And when He promised, "Abraham believed Him,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness."[7] For "he gave glory to
God, most fully believing," as it is written, "that what He has promised
He is able also to perform."[7]

CHAP. 36.--GOD NOT ONLY FOREKNOWS THAT MEN
WILL BE GOOD, BUT HIMSELF MAKES THEM SO.

It is He Himself, therefore, that makes those
men good, to do good works. For He did not promise them to Abraham because
He foreknew that of themselves they would be good. For if this were the
case, what He promised was not His, but theirs. But it was not thus that
Abraham believed, but "he was not weak in faith, giving glory to God;"
and "most fully believing that what He has promised He is able also to
perform."[8] He does not say, "What He foreknew, He is able to promise;"
nor "What He fore told, He is able to manifest;" nor "What He promised,
He is able to foreknow:" but "What He promised, He is able also to do."
It is He, therefore, who makes them to persevere in good, who makes them
good. But they who fall and perish have never been in the number of the
predestinated. Although, then, the apostle might be speaking of all persons
regenerated and living piously when he said, "Who art thou that judgest
another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth;" yet he
at once had regard to the predestinated, and said, "But he shall stand;"
and that they might not arrogate this to themselves, he says, "For God
is able to make him stand."[9] It is He Himself, therefore, that gives
perseverance, who is able to establish those who stand, so that they may
stand fast with the greatest perseverance; or to restore those who have
fallen, for "the Lord setteth up those who are broken down."[10]

CHAP. 37.--TO A SOUND WILL IS COMMITTED THE
POWER OF PERSEVERING OR OF NOT PERSEVERING.

As, therefore, the first man did not receive
this gift of God,--that is, perseverance in good,but it was left in his
choice to persevere or not to persevere, his will had such strength,--inasmuch
as it had been created without any sin, and there was nothing in the way
of concupis-cence of himself that withstood it,--that the choice of persevering
could worthily be entrusted to such goodness and to such facility m living
well. But God at the same time foreknew what he would do in unrighteousness;
foreknew, however, but did not compel him to this; but at the same time
He knew what He Himself would do in righteousness concerning him. But now,
since that great freedom has been lost by the desert of sin, our weakness
has remained to be aided by still greater gifts. For it pleased God, in
order most effectually to quench the pride of human presumption, "that
no flesh should glory in His presence"--that is, "no man."[1] But whence
should flesh not glory in His presence, save concerning its merits? Which,
indeed, it might have had, but lost; and lost by that very means whereby
it might have had them, that is, by its free will; on account of which
there remains nothing to those who are to be delivered, save the grace
of the Deliverer. Thus, therefore, no flesh glories in His presence. For
the unrighteous do not glory, since they have no ground of glory; nor the
righteous, because they have a ground from Him, and have no glory of theirs,
but Himself, to whom they say, "My glory, and the lifter up of my head."[2]
And thus it is that what is written pertains to every man, "that no flesh
should glory in His presence." To the righteous, however, pertains that
Scripture: "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."[3] For this the
apostle most manifestly showed, when, after saying "that no flesh should
glory in His presence," lest the saints should suppose that they had been
left without any glory, he presently added, "But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto uswisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord."[4] Hence it is that in this abode of miseries,
where trial is the life of man upon the earth, "strength is made perfect
in weakness."[5] What strength, save "that he that glorieth should glory
in the Lord"?

CHAP. 38.--WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE GIFT
OF PERSEVERANCE THAT IS NOW GIVEN TO THE SAINTS.

And thus God willed that His saints should
not--even concerning perseverance in goodness itself--glory in their own
strength, but in Himself, who not only gives them aid such as He gave to
the first man, without which they cannot persevere if they will, but causes
in them also the will; that since they will not persevere unless they both
can and will, both the capability anti the will to persevere should be
bestowed on them by the liberality of divine grace. Because by the Holy
Spirit their will is so much enkindled that they therefore can, because
they so will; and they therefore so will because God works in them to will.
For if in so much weakness of this life (in which weakness, however, for
the sake of checking pride, strength behoved to be perfected) their own
will should be left to themselves, that they might, if they willed, continue
in the help of God, without which they could not persevere, and God should
not work m them to will, in the midst of so many and so great weaknesses
their will itself would give way, and they would not be able to persevere,
for the reason that failing from infirmity they would not will, or in the
weakness of will they would not so will that they would be able. Therefore
aid is brought to the infirmity of human will, so that it might be unchangeably
and invincibly[6] influenced by divine grace; and thus, although weak,
it still might not fail, nor be overcome by any adversity. Thus it happens
that man's will, weak and incapable, in good as yet small, may persevere
by God's strength; while the will of the first man, strong and healthful,
having the power of free choice, did not persevere in a greater good; because
although God's help was not wanting, without which it could not persevere
if it would, yet it was not such a help as that by which God would work
in man to will. Certainly to the strongest He yielded and permitted to
do what He willed; to those that were weak He has reserved that by His
own gift they should most invincibly will what is good, and most invincibly
refuse to forsake this. Therefore when Christ says, "I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not,"[7] we may understand that it was said to
him who is built upon the rock. And thus the man of God, not only because
he has obtained mercy to be faithful, but also because faith itself does
not fail, if he glories, must glory in the Lord.

CHAP. 39 [XIII.]--THE NUMBER OF THE PREDESTINATED
IS CERTAIN AND DEFINED.

I speak thus of those who are predestinated
to the kingdom of God, whose number is so certain that one can neither
be added to them nor taken from them; not of those who, when He had announced
and spoken, were multiplied beyond number. For they may be said to be called
but not chosen, because they are not called according to the purpose. But
that the number of the elect is certain, and neither to be increased nor
diminished,--although it is signified by John the Baptist when he says,
"Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for God is able of these
stones to raise up children to Abraham,"[1] to show that they were in such
wise to be cut off if they did not produce fruit, that the number which
was promised to Abraham would not be wanting,is yet more plainly declared
in the Apocalypse: "Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy
crown."[2] For if another would not receive unless one should have lost,
the number is fixed.

CHAP. 40.--NO ONE IS CERTAIN AND SECURE OF
HIS OWN PREDESTINATION AND SALVATION.

But, moreover, that such things as these are
so spoken to saints who will persevere, as if it were reckoned uncertain
whether they will persevere, is a reason that they ought not otherwise
to hear these things, since it is well for them "not to be high-minded,
but to fear."[3] For who of the multitude of believers can presume, so
long as he is living in this mortal state, that he is in the number of
the predestinated? Because it is necessary that in this condition that
should be kept hidden; since here we have to beware so much of pride, that
even so great an apostle was buffetted by a messenger of Satan, lest he
should be lifted up.[4] Hence it was said to the apostles, "If ye abide
in me;"[5] and this He said who knew for a certainty that they would abide;
and through the prophet, "If ye shall be willing, and will hear me,"[6]
although He knew in whom He would work to will also. And many similar things
are said. For on account of the usefulness of this secrecy, lest, perchance,
any one should be lifted up, but that all, even although they are running
well, should fear, in that it is not known who may attain,--on account
of the usefulness of this secrecy, it must be believed that some of the
children of perdition, who have not received the gift of perseverance to
the end, begin to live in the faith which worketh by love, and live for
some time faithfully and righteously, and afterwards fall away, and are
not taken away from this life before this happens to them. If this had
happened to none of these, men would have that very wholesome fear, by
which the sin of presumption is kept down, only so long as until they should
attain to the grace of Christ by which to live piously, and afterwards
would for time to come be secure that they would never fall away from Him.
And such presumption in this condition of trials is not fitting, where
there is so great weakness, that security may engender pride. Finally,
this also shall be the case; but it shall be at that time, in men also
as it already is in the angels, when there cannot be any pride. Therefore
the number of the saints, by God's grace predestinated to God's kingdom,
with the gift of perseverance to the end bestowed on them, shall be guided
thither in its completeness, and there shall be at length without end preserved
in its fullest completeness, most blessed, the mercy of their Saviour still
cleaving to them, whether in their conversion, in their conflict, or in
their crown!

CHAP. 41.--EVEN IN JUDGMENT GOD'S MERCY WILL
BE NECESSARY TO US.

For the Holy Scripture testifies that God's
mercy is then also necessary for them, when the Saint says to his soul
concerning the Lord its God, "Who crowneth thee in mercy and compassion."[7]
The Apostle James also says: "He shall have judgment without mercy who
hath showed no mercy;"[8] where he sets forth that even in that judgment
in which the righteous are crowned and the unrighteous are condemned, some
will be judged with mercy, others without mercy. On which account also
the mother of the Maccabees says to her son, "That in that mercy I may
receive thee with thy brethren."[9] "For when a righteous king," as it
is written, "shall sit on the throne, no evil thing shall oppose itself
to him. Who will boast that he has a pure heart? or who will boast that
he is pure from sin?[10] And thus God's mercy is even then necessary, by
which he is made "blessed to whom the Lord has not imputed sin."[11] But
at that time even mercy itself shall be allotted in righteous judgment
in accordance with the merits of good works. For when it is said, "Judgment
without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy," it is plainly shown that
in those in whom are found the good works of mercy, judgment shall be executed
with mercy; and thus even that mercy itself shall be returned to the merits
of good works. It is not so now; when not only no good works, but many
bad works precede, His mercy anticipates a man so that he is delivered
from evils,--as well from evils which he has done, as from those which
he would have done if he were not controlled by the grace of God; and from
those, too, which he would have suffered for ever if he were not plucked
from the power of darkness, and transferred into the kingdom of the Son
of God's love.[12] Nevertheless, since even that life eternal itself, which,
it is certain, is given as due to good works, is called by so great an
apostle the grace of God, although grace is not rendered to works, but
is given freely, it must be confessed without any doubt, that eternal life
is called grace for the reason that it is rendered to those merits which
grace has conferred upon man. Because that saying is rightly understood
which in the gospel is read, "grace for grace,"[1]--that is, for those
merits which grace has conferred.

CHAP. 42.--THE REPROBATE ARE TO BE PUNISHED
FOR MERITS OF A DIFFERENT KIND.

But those who do not belong to this number
of the predestinated, whom--whether that they have not yet any free choice
of their will, or with a choice of will truly free, because freed by grace
itself--the grace of God brings to His kingdom,--those, then, who do not
belong to that most certain and blessed number, are most righteously judged
according to their deservings. For either they lie under the sin which
they have inherited by original generation, and depart hence with that
inherited debt which is not put away by regeneration, or by their free
will have added other sins besides; their will, I say, free, but not freed,--
free from righteousness, but enslaved to sin, by which they are tossed
about by divers mischievous lusts, some more evil, some less, but all evil;
and they must be adjudged to diverse punishments, according to that very
diversity. Or they receive the grace of God, but they are only for a season,
and do not persevere; they forsake and are forsaken. For by their free
will, as they have not received the gift of perseverance, they are sent
away by the righteous and hidden judgment of God.

CHAP. 43 [XIV.]--REBUKE AND GRACE DO NOT SET
ASIDE ONE ANOTHER.

Let men then suffer themselves to be rebuked
when they sin, and not conclude against grace from the rebuke itself, nor
from grace against rebuke; because both the righteous penalty of sin is
due, and righteous rebuke belongs to it, if it is medicinally applied,
even although the salvation of the ailing man is uncertain; so that if
he who is rebuked belongs to the number of the predestinated, rebuke may
be to him a wholesome medicine; and if he does not belong to that number,
rebuke may be to him a penal infliction. Under that very uncertainty, therefore,
it must of love be applied, although its result is unknown; and prayer
must be made on his behalf to whom it is applied, that he may be healed.
But when men either come or return into the way of righteousness by means
of rebuke, who is it that worketh salvation in their hearts but that God
who giveth the increase, whoever plants and waters, and whoever labours
on the fields or shrubs,--that God whom no man's will resists when He wills
to give salvation? For so to will or not to will is in the power of Him
who willeth or willeth not, as not to hinder the divine will nor overcome
the divine power. For even concerning those who do what He wills not, He
Himself does what He will.

CHAP. 44.--IN WHAT WAY GOD WILLS ALL MEN TO
BE SAVED.

And what is written, that "He wills all men'
to be saved,"[2] while yet all men are not saved, may be understood in
many ways, some of which I have mentioned in other writings[3] of mine;
but here I will say one thing: "He wills all men to be saved," is so said
that all the predestinated may be understood by it, because every kind
of men is among them. Just as it was said to the Pharisees, "Ye tithe every
herb;"[4] where the expression is only to be understood of every herb that
they had, for they did not tithe every herb which was found throughout
the whole earth. According to the same manner of speaking, it was said,
"Even as I also please all men in all things."[5] For did he who said this
please also the multitude of his persecutors? But he pleased every kind
of men that assembled in the Church of Christ, whether they were already
established therein, or were to be introduced into it.

CHAP. 45.--SCRIPTURAL INSTANCES WHEREIN IT
IS PROVED THAT GOD HAS MEN'S WILLS MORE IN HIS POWER THAN THEY THEMSELVES
HAVE.

It is not, then, to be doubted that men's
wills cannot, so as to prevent His doing what he wills, withstand the will
of God, "who hath done all things whatsoever He pleased in heaven and in
earth,"[6] and who also "has done those things that are to come;"[7] since
He does even concerning the wills themselves of men what He will, when
He will. Unless, perchance (to mention some things among many), when God
willed to give the kingdom to Saul, it was so in the power of the Israelites,
as it certainly was placed in their will, either to subject themselves
or not to the man in question, that they could even prevail to withstand
God. God, however, did not do this, save by the will of the men themselves,
because he beyond doubt had the most omnipotent power of inclining men's
hearts whither it pleased Him. For thus it is written: "And Samuel sent
the people away, and every one went away unto his own place. And Saul went
away to his house in Gibeah: and there went away with Saul mighty men,
whose hearts the Lord touched. And pestilent children said, Who shall save
us? This man? And they despised him, and brought him no presents."[1] Will
any one say that any of those whose hearts the Lord touched to go with
Saul would not have gone with him, or that any of those pestilent fellows,
whose hearts He did not touch to do this, would have gone? Of David also,
whom the Lord ordained to the kingdom in a more prosperous succession,
we read thus: "And David continued to increase, and was magnified, and
the Lord was with him."[2] This having been premised, it is said a little
afterwards, "And the Spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he
said, We are thine, 0 David, and we will be with thee, 0 son of Jesse:
Peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy helpers; because the Lord
has helped thee."[3] Could he withstand the will of God, and not rather
do the will of Him who wrought in his heart by His Spirit, with which he
was clothed, to will, speak, and do thus? Moreover, a little afterwards
the same Scripture says, "All these warlike men, setting the battle in
array, came with a peaceful heart to Hebron to establish David over all
Israel." [4] By their own will, certainly, they appointed David king. Who
cannot see this? Who can deny it? For they did not do it under constraint
or without good-will, since they did it; with a peaceful heart. And yet
He wrought this in them who worketh what He will in the hearts of men.
For which reason the Scripture premised, "And David continued to increase,
and was magnified, and the Lord Omnipotent was with him." And thus the
Lord Omnipotent, who was with him, induced these men to appoint him king.
And how did He induce them? Did He constrain thereto by any bodily fetters?
He wrought within; He held their hearts; He stirred their hearts, and drew
them by their own wills, which He Himself wrought in them. If, then, when
God wills to set up kings in the earth, He has the wills of men more in
His power than they themselves have, who else causes rebuke to be wholesome
and correction to result in the heart of him that is rebuked, that he may
be established in the kingdom of heaven?

CHAP. 46 [XV.]--REBUKE MUST BE VARIED ACCORDING
TO THE VARIETY OF FAULTS. THERE IS NO PUNISHMENT IN THE CHURCH GREATERTHAN EXCOMMUNICATION.

Therefore, let brethren who are subject be
rebuked by those who are set over them, with rebukes that spring from love,
varied according to the diversity of faults, whether smaller or greater.
Because that very penalty that is called condemnation,[5] which episcopal
judgment inflicts, than which there is no greater punishment in the Church,
may, if God will, result and be of advantage for most wholesome rebuke.
For we know not what may happen on the coming day; nor must any one be
despaired of before the end of this life; nor can God be contradicted,
that He may not look down and give repentance, and receive the sacrifice
of a troubled spirit and a contrite heart, and absolve from the guilt of
condemnation, however just, and so Himself not condemn the condemned person.
Yet the necessity of the pastoral office requires, in order that the terrible
contagion may not creep through the many, that the diseased sheep should
be separated from the sound ones; perchance, by that very separation, to
be healed by Him to whom nothing is impossible. For as we know not who
belongs to the number of the predestinated, we ought in such wise to be
influenced by the affection of love as to will all men to be saved. For
this is the case when we endeavour to lead every individual to that point
where they may meet with those agencies by which we may prevail, to the
accomplishment of the result, that being justified by faith they may have
peace with God,[6]-- which peace, moreover, the apostle announced when
he said, "Therefore, we discharge an embassage for Christ, as though God
were exhorting by us, we pray you in Christ's stead to be reconciled to
God."[7] For what is "to be reconciled" to Him but to have peace with Him?
For the sake of which peace, moreover, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said
to His disciples, "Into whatsoever house ye enter first, say, Peace be
to this house; and if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest
upon it; but if not, it shall return to you again."[8] When they preach
the gospel of this peace of whom it is predicted, "How beautiful are the
feet of those that publish peace, that announce good things!"[9] to us,
indeed, every one then begins to be a son of peace who obeys and believes
this gospel, and who, being justified by faith, has begun to have peace
towards God; but, according to God's predestination, he was already a son
of peace. For it was not said, Upon whomsoever your peace shall rest, he
shall become a son of peace; but Christ says, "If the son of peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon that house." Already, therefore, and before
the announcement of that peace to him, the son of peace was there, as he
had been known and foreknown, by--not the evangelist, but--God. For we
need not fear lest we should lose it, if in our ignorance he to whom we
preach is not a son of peace, for it will return to us again--that is,
that preaching will profit us, and not him; but if the peace proclaimed
shall rest upon him, it will profit both us and him.

CHAP. 47.--ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF THE APOSTOLIC
PASSAGE, "WHO WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED."

That, therefore, in our ignorance of who shall
be saved, God commands us to will that all to whom we preach this peace
may be saved, and Himself works this in us by diffusing that love in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us,--may also thus be understood,
that God wills all men to be saved, because He makes us to will this; just
as "He sent the Spirit of His Son, crying, Abba, Father;" ' that is, making
us to cry, Abba, Father. Because, concerning that same Spirit, He says
in another place, "We have received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we
cry, Abba, Father! "[2] We therefore cry, but He is said to cry who makes
us to cry. If, then, Scripture tightly said that the Spirit was crying
by whom we are made to cry, it rightly also says that God wills, when by
Him we are made to will. And thus, because by rebuke we ought to do nothing
save to avoid departure from that peace which is towards God, or to induce
return to it of him who had departed, let us do in hope what we do. If
he whom we rebuke is a son of peace, our peace shall rest upon him; but
if not, it shall return to us again.

CHAP. 48.--THE PURPOSE OF REBUKE.

Although, therefore, even while the faith
of some is subverted, the foundation of God standeth sure, since the Lord
knoweth them that are His, still, we ought not on that account to be indolent
and negligent in rebuking those who should be rebuked. For not for nothing
was it said, "Evil communications corrupt good manners;" [3] and, "The
weak brother shall perish in thy knowledge, on account of whom Christ died."[4]
Let us not, in opposition to these precepts, and to a wholesome fear, pretend
to argue, saying, "Well, let evil communications corrupt good manners,
and let the weak brother perish. What is that to us? The foundation of
God standeth sure, and no one perishes but the son of perdition." [XVI.]
Be it far from us to babble in this wise, and think that we ought to be
secure in this negligence. For it is true that no one perishes except the
son of perdition, but God says by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel:[5]
"He shall surely die in his sin, but his blood will I require at the hand
of the watchman."

CHAP. 49.--CONCLUSION.

Hence, as far as concerns us, who are not
able to distinguish those who are predestinated from those who are not,
we ought on this very account to will all men to be saved. Severe rebuke
should be medicinally applied to all by us that they perish not themselves,
or that they may not be the means of destroying others. It belongs to God,
however, to make that rebuke useful to them whom He Himself has foreknown
and predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. For, if at any
time we abstain from rebuking, for fear lest by rebuke a man should perish,
why do we not also rebuke, for fear lest a man should rather perish by
our withholding it? For we have no greater bowels of love than the blessed
apostle who says, "Rebuke those that are unruly; comfort the feeble-minded;
support the weak; be patient towards all men. See that none render to any
man evil for evil"[6] Where it is to be understood that evil is then rather
rendered for evil when one who ought to be rebuked is not rebuked, but
by a wicked dissimulation is neglected. He says, moreover, "Them that sin
rebuke before all, that others also may fear;"[7] which must be received
concerning those sins which are not concealed, lest he be thought to have
spoken in opposition to the word of the Lord. For He says, "If thy brother
shall sin against thee, rebuke him between thee and him."[8] Notwithstanding,
He Himself carries out the severity of rebuke to the extent of saying,
"If he will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man
and a publican."[9] And who has more loved the weak than He who became
weak for us all, and of that very weakness was crucified for us all? And
since these things are so, grace neither restrains rebuke, nor does rebuke
restrain grace; and on this account righteousness is so to be prescribed
that we may ask in faithful prayer, that, by God's grace, what is prescribed
may be done; and both of these things are in such wise to be done that
righteous rebuke may not be neglected. But let all these things be done
with love, since love both does not sin, and does cover the multitude of
sins.